Twins separated at birth and reunited at 39 had lived completely identical lives without realising

When identical twin brothers were born, they were put up for adoption and yet somehow managed to live almost identical lives.

Jim Lewis and Jim Springer came to be known as the 'Jim twins' after discovering each other and learning about their almost identical lives.

To begin with, both of their adopted families decided to name them James, but each preferred to be called 'Jim' for short.

They lived about 40 miles away from each other and just to demonstrate how similar their lives were, I'm going to write about what they got up to with no knowledge of the other.

Jim had a brother called Larry and a dog named Toy, and when he went to school, he was good at maths but not great at spelling.

Jim got into woodwork as a hobby but his career lay in law enforcement, while in his personal life, he married a woman named Linda before divorcing and then marrying another woman named Betty.

The 'Jim twins' led near-identical lives. (YouTube)

Jim would name his first son James Allan, before meeting his identical twin brother at the age of 39 and learning that he did all of that exact same stuff too.

Once the 'Jim twins' met, they discovered that they had the same taste in beer brands and cigarettes - and they even drove the same brand of car.

They also went through some tests which found they had an incredibly similar personality and medical history, and when each Jim was asked to draw a picture, they both drew the same thing.

However, there are some differences between the twins.

One of them got married a third time to a woman named Sandy, which the other Jim's wife will have been pleased to learn was a feat not replicated by her fella.

The brothers met after one of the Jims decided to try and track down his long-lost twin, finding contact details through an Ohio courthouse and making a fateful phone call.

Identical twins with identical names for themselves, their wives, their dog and their eldest son. (BBC)

Jim Lewis was aware that he had a twin brother, while Jim Springer had been told that his twin brother had passed away.

The twins finally met in 1979 and discovered what a similar life they'd led to each other.

Just think dear reader, you could be an identical twin and have someone who looks just like you out there right now.

They could even be naming their dog the exact same as you, and marrying women with the same name as your wife.

It's quite unlikely to be the case, but it turned out to be true for Jim and Jim.